Love the raw tone, but need some help dialing it in...

[nateb]

So, last week, I got a hold of a roadster. First of all, this amp is just a blast. I love playing with it but, I am having a small issue with it. I am trying to tighten up the distortion and having little success. The type of stuff that I play is Nevermore/Mystic Prophecy so, it is a lot of fast muted sequences... you get the idea.

Now, I am new to the whole tube realm and I want to get away from using my Digitech 2101. But, since I cannot quite get the tone that I am looking for, I am forced to use the Roadster as strictly a poweramp stage. I did add a Tung-Sol to the V1 stage which seemed to help a bit but, not quite there.

So, to the point....

What is the holy grail setup to be running infront of the amp, in the loop inorder to get that tight rhythm tone that people seem to be getting from the recto series. Could some of you Mesa Thrash/Powermetal gods please inform me of my major malfunction?

In return, I offer a funny. (Sorry if it is old as the internet)

Thanks,

-Nate

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

IMO, if you're looking for fast and tight tracking, the rectifier series is not the right place to be looking.

What cab are you playing it through? A traditional helps quite a bit....

As of my resent findings, the Mark IV destroys the rectifier series in tight and articulate gain.

I was through this, and still kinda am....I was looking for a tighter gain from the rectifier....swapped tubes, tried pedals out front....everything helps, but you go through SOO much trouble, and never really get 100% there. Sometimes you have to accept that an amp just isn't for you.

I'm in the process of switching over to a Mark IV :wink:

 

[18&Life]

IMO, if you're looking for fast and tight tracking, the rectifier series is not the right place to be looking.

What cab are you playing it through? A traditional helps quite a bit....

As of my resent findings, the Mark IV destroys the rectifier series in tight and articulate gain.

I was through this, and still kinda am....I was looking for a tighter gain from the rectifier....swapped tubes, tried pedals out front....everything helps, but you go through SOO much trouble, and never really get 100% there. Sometimes you have to accept that an amp just isn't for you.

I'm in the process of switching over to a Mark IV :wink:

+ 1.000

 

[Russ]

+1

However if you still want the Dual Rec feel you can go to a 2 ch. They are much tighter. The earliest 2 ch being the best of the group. I have a '94. It is pretty tight when dialed in for it. I run a Traditional cab and have 7581's in it instead of 6L6's or EL-34's. It isn't quite Mark IV tight but I have a Mark IV so to me that doesn't even matter anyway. I can tell you that any 2 ch will be better than a 3 ch or newer for tightness.

 

[soundpurist]

...I am forced to use the Roadster as strictly a poweramp stage.

?!??! :shock:

Decrease treble a little and bass a lot (9 O'clock), boost the mid at 1-2 O'clock. Keep the master low while you increase the gain till you get a descent distortion (stop when the distortion start [breakup point]) Then increase the master a little over the breakup point. Don't be afraid to increase the presence, especially if you like it low, that's why you got to decrease the treble. Then you can increase the ouput volume for the killer volume and you'll get the sound tighter as you can get it.

Usually the bass is the guilty one for muddy-ing the sound. Second guilty one is too much gain, depend on your pickups but 1 O'clock is the big maximum.

Cannot compare with my amp cause is a recto pre, less gainy and...maybe there is difference with the knob postion on certain things but the most important is your ear! Sometime the knob position is an illusion compare to the real sound you hear. I'm shure you already tried to play with the mid scooped out...yeah it sound heavy but empty. That's why i decrease the treble, increase the presence and almost put the mid at 3 O'clock with almost no bass in the eq cause increasing the master over the breakup point will give you as much punch as the natural mid-bass coming with the tube sound we all want! And yes the kind cab and speakers have something to do here...

I have to admit that the modern distortion on the roadster sound better than my recto pre/2:100 but when you're patient and tweaked out the hundred posibilitties of your roadster then you can say i'm gonna buy another amp (like mark IV...classic).

I'm not telling you what to do, finally you're maybe not the kind of recto guy...i cannot tell you much about mark series cause i don't own that wonder. If you can have help from a friend who know that amp maybe you should go with him and try the amp in the store so he can tweak the amp in the right way to see if you like what you ear...Hope this help. Good luck in your research!
:wink: